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Thursday, November 17, 2016

Top 10 richest presidents of U.S.A.

With the election of Donald Trump as next U.S. president, America is going to see the richest President all time.  Earlier the richest one was founding President George Washington with worth of 580 million U.S. dollars. Below is the list of richest presidents along with their wealth, in 2016 dollars. The figures represent peak wealth.

1.       John. F. Kennedy ( more than 1 billion $)
He along with his family owned more than 1 billion us dollars. His family fortune was created by his father John Kennedy, who made money from commodity trading and real estate investing.

2.       George Washington (580 million dollars)
He was an industrialist and entrepreneur. He sat up his own distillatory for making alcohol. Moreover he owned more than 8000 acres of land. President Washington estimated worth in today’s dollars is 580 million $.

3.       Thomas Jefferson (234 million dollars)
He was third president of United States. His net worth was 234 million $.  He inherited vast fortune but ended up in debts, in later part of his life.

4.       Theodore Roosevelt(138 million dollars)
He owned 138 million dollars. He was born to prominent and wealthy New York family and became 26th U.S. president.

5.       Andrew Jackson(131 million dollars)
Andrew Jackson was 7th president of United States. He owned 640-acare plantation called hermitage situated near Nashville. He was among first three investors who founded Memphis.

6.       James Madison (112 million dollars) 
112 million dollars president Madison after inheriting some land from his father, he eventually owned 5000-acres.  He became the largest land owner of Orange County, Virginia.

7.       Lyndon b. Johnson. (108 million dollars)
After inheriting small piece of land, in Texas, he eventually built it up into expensive 1500-acre ranch. His wife also owned radio and TV station in Austin, Texas.

8.       Herbert Hoover (82 million dollars)
A mining engineer by profession amassed huge stakes in different mining companies.

9.       Bill Clinton ( 75 million dollars)
He unlike other presidents, Clinton didn’t inherited family fortune. He made his fortune during his tenure as Arkansas Governor and later as President. He also received 15 million$ advance for his autobiography in 2005. President Clinton is one of the highest paid keynote speakers.

10.   Franklin D. Roosevelt (66 million dollars)

32nd President of United States owned 66 million dollars. Like other wealthy U.S. presidents much of his fortune was inherited.

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

5 Most powerful economic nations of history

For the most part of the history, the most powerful economic powers were simply the countries that housed the most people and controlled the most land. Up until 300 years ago, economies across the world were mainly agricultural. Economic historian Ian Morris says that for the most part of the human history, civilization’s economic strength depended largely on when it experienced an agricultural revolution.   Until the industrial revolution upended everything, it would take a nation thousands of years to turn itself into an economic powerhouse.

Here is the list of 5 historically dominant economic civilizations, in chronological order.

Roman Empire
Rome, the distant descendant of first agricultural revolution, became dominant global empire in matters of centuries. It at its peak controlled 25 to 30% global production. As trade is vital for economic growth, the Romans were better at it during their height than anybody else. Historical evidence also suggest that they had very well developed financial system that made extensive use of credit and bank notes, hence enabling traders to forgo hauling precious metals across distances.

China under Song Dynasty
China under song dynasty controlled 25 to 30% of global output. Although agriculture reached china later than it did in modern day Middle East but Chinese made good use of the benefits of agricultural society.
Mughal Empire
One of the most magnificent and economically most powerful civilization, the world has ever seen is India’s Mughal empire. The English word Mogul is derived from the word ‘Mughal’. Even today the signs of their splendor can be seen in form Taj Mahal Agra, Badshahi Mosque,etc. According to late economic historian Angus Maddison, the per capita income of the mughal era india was likely about the same as in England or Britain at the time, but India’s aristocracy’s life style surpassed that of European elites.  Mughal era at it its peak produced one-fourth of global output.  

British civilization
Its aptitude of profiteering from its colonies made it the first global economic powerhouse which dominated the world without strictly controlling equally large percentage of population. Another advantage, Britain enjoyed came from huge technological boost of the industrial revolution. It, at its height, produced 21% of total global output out of which 6% came from its colonies.

American civilization
United States, for about past 140 years, is the largest economy, but its relative power is in decline. It is expected that China’s economy would overtake the United States, by 2018.
After the World War II, there was a brief period when United States, owing to destruction of other industrial economies, produced half of world total economic output.